NEWPORT BEACH – Her voice barely audible, the mother stepped to the podium to address the court.

Popped in May 2011 with her second DUI, registering a blood-alcohol level of 0.23 percent at the time of her arrest, the woman looked at the judge as she talked about her excuses for drinking.

She was already a heavy drinker in 2010, she said, when she learned she had breast cancer. During chemotherapy and radiation, she was too sick to drink. But when her treatments were complete, and her doctor said things were looking good, she hit the bottle again – this time to celebrate.

Now, 18 months sober, the woman – herself the daughter of an alcoholic father – talked of the "cunning and powerful" disease of alcoholism, and of how the celebration began when she stopped drinking.

"Sobriety is the greatest gift I've ever had," she said.

As the woman spoke, Judge Matthew Anderson, 54, beamed.

And when she finished, like others in the packed courtroom at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, the judge broke into applause.

•••

For nine "hard-core impaired drivers," Dec. 11 was graduation day.

All were successful participants in DUI Court, a countywide program that is a national model for making the community safer by identifying repeat drunken drivers before they become killers.

Orange County established one of the nation's first DUI Courts in 2004, and today the court, run out of the Harbor Justice Center and three other county courthouses, is one of four nationally designated "academy" courts, meaning it provides resources and training for new DUI Courts throughout the country.

Anderson started running the DUI Court at Harbor in 2010.

He's seen a few people fail in the rigorous course.

But, more often, he's seen a different story – businessmen reunited with their kids, mothers regaining custody of their children, previously wayward young adults enrolling in college.

"I've seen sick and depressed and dangerous people reclaim their lives," Anderson said of DUI Court, in which participants must remain for at least a year, and sometimes longer.

"It's an incredible gift to our community."

•••

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that alcohol-impaired drivers in the U.S. kill about 10,000 people a year, making drunken driving only slightly less lethal than gun-related homicides.

Related Links

Judge Matthew Anderson in his chambers at Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach. JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Judge Matthew Anderson in his chambers at Harbor Justice Center. JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Judge Matthew Anderson in his chambers at Harbor Justice Center. JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A police officer involved in the arrest of a DUI offender hugs the graduate at a recent ceremony at DUI Court at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, while officials from the county Probation Department and Health Care Agency look on. COURTESY OF LESLIE HOWARD
Judge Matthew Anderson shakes hands with a graduate of DUI Court at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, as the graduate makes his way down a line of court officials, probation officers, therapists from the Orange County Health Care Agency and attorneys. COURTESY OF LESLIE HOWARD

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